Shanghai - hotel prebooked FP

Lesley Wake

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 16, 2017
I'm staying at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel and based on reports from these boards I am waiting to buy my tickets until I arrive at the hotel so the concierge can add the 1 prebooked FP per day. When you get that, do you have to pick the ride and time, or do you just pick the ride and it becomes an "Anytime" fastpass? Just trying to plan out my basic touring strategy!

Edit: Oh and also, how long of a line does Soaring tend to have during the Early Entry hour? I probably wouldn't be heading directly there.
 
1) The hotel FP is anytime
2) Soarin is walk on during the early hour, as is everything. It's the best early hour in any Disney park in the world.
 
I'm staying at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel and based on reports from these boards I am waiting to buy my tickets until I arrive at the hotel so the concierge can add the 1 prebooked FP per day. When you get that, do you have to pick the ride and time, or do you just pick the ride and it becomes an "Anytime" fastpass? Just trying to plan out my basic touring strategy!

Edit: Oh and also, how long of a line does Soaring tend to have during the Early Entry hour? I probably wouldn't be heading directly there.
We were just there and stayed in the Disneyland hotel-- booked park tickets at the hotel and picked a FP that was time specific for each day. We went to Soaring during early entry and it was packed.
 
1) The hotel FP is anytime
2) Soarin is walk on during the early hour, as is everything. It's the best early hour in any Disney park in the world.
We were just there and stayed in the Disneyland hotel-- booked park tickets at the hotel and picked a FP that was time specific for each day. We went to Soaring during early entry and it was packed.
Now I don’t know what to expect, Lol! Oh well, at this time in 2 weeks I’ll be checking in and will get my answers about the FPs.

My first early morning strategy is Tron, maybe Buzz, then over to Soaring before everyone else let in. I think that will work, but am willing to make adjustments on the fly!
 


Now I don’t know what to expect, Lol! Oh well, at this time in 2 weeks I’ll be checking in and will get my answers about the FPs.

My first early morning strategy is Tron, maybe Buzz, then over to Soaring before everyone else let in. I think that will work, but am willing to make adjustments on the fly!

I can't see how Soarin would be packed during early entry. The park capacity is huge and there are only a few hotels offering early entrance. One morning I casually strolled around taking pictures before eventually making my way over to Soarin. And I literally walked all the way on to the ride, there was nobody there. I then did it a 2nd time (because why the hell not) and there were 5 people.

As for the hotel FP, maybe they asked me to specify a time, I don't remember as I was really tired when I arrived. But I thought it was any time during the selected day.

OP, are you going solo? Tron has a "secret" solo rider line. I used it probably 5-10x during my trip. Saves a TON of time. So I would go enjoy Pirates and Soarin during early entry if you are going solo or don't care about sitting next to your partner.
 
just returned from a trip to SHDR
Hotel Fastpass is booked for a set ride and you must advise at what time (you can pick anytime).
They are linked to your park tickets and do not affect your FassPass selection once inside the park.

Tip as soon as you enter to park- open the SHDR app and scan your tickets and make your first Fasspass.

SHDR resrot hotel guest do get early entry.
Be advised they also sell early entry to locals and general public to those not staying at a SHDR hotel.
This is why the lines can be long at park opening.

We can confirm Sornin is the most popular ride at the park.
During our 4 days we walked onto every other attraction. However, Sornin was pretty much always 100mintue wait. Unless you race to it first thing at park open or closer the park closing.
If your interested in Sornin...use your hotel Fasspass for it.

Enjoy your trip.
We think it's the best Disney park out there (on the same trip we did Shangahi, Hong Kong and Tokyo).
 
Didn't realize they were selling FP entry to gen pop. That's absolute crap.
 


Didn't realize they were selling FP entry to gen pop. That's absolute crap.
I agree-- and I think it made a difference. We were there September 28-30, 2019, just before China's 70th celebration on October 1, so that also made a difference. Soaring remained the most popular ride-- never a walk on at any time, including early entry. During the day we tracked the ride times on our app-- Soaring generally around 1.5 to 2 hours, Tron also up there along with Mine Train. Buzz was less busy-- and it was a walk on during early entry. The only ride we did twice-- and wanted to do twice-- was Pirates. Just fantastic. BTW the app will tell you when you can book your next FP-- it wasn't always after the expiration of our existing (non-hotel made) one. I think the crowds when we were there were exceptionally large because of the holiday week. Most times, using early entry and a hotel issued FP (for a given day and one hour time) the park is quite doable in one day. Per our steps, we did almost 10 miles during our one full day there! Also-- if you buy tickets at the hotel you will not need your passport to get into the park. The Disneyland Hotel has a safe in each room, and ferry access to the park (but it does not run during early entry hours). Starbucks in Disneytown opens at 7 for decent coffee and a fair selection of breakfast items.
 
OP, are you going solo? Tron has a "secret" solo rider line. I used it probably 5-10x during my trip. Saves a TON of time. So I would go enjoy Pirates and Soarin during early entry if you are going solo or don't care about sitting next to your partner.
I am, and I hadn’t heard about this! Do you enter thru the exit?

For Soaring, I live near Disneyland and have ridden Soarin more times than I can count! I am interested in seeing the queue, which looks cool, so I do want to go standby to see it.

Thanks for all your input! Definitely helps, as there really isn’t a huge amount of info out there (especially recent accounts, as people seemed to go the first year and not again)!
 
I am, and I hadn’t heard about this! Do you enter thru the exit?

For Soaring, I live near Disneyland and have ridden Soarin more times than I can count! I am interested in seeing the queue, which looks cool, so I do want to go standby to see it.

Thanks for all your input! Definitely helps, as there really isn’t a huge amount of info out there (especially recent accounts, as people seemed to go the first year and not again)!

Just go to the fastpass line and tell the cast member you are a single rider. He will guide you.
 
I am, and I hadn’t heard about this! Do you enter thru the exit?

For Soaring, I live near Disneyland and have ridden Soarin more times than I can count! I am interested in seeing the queue, which looks cool, so I do want to go standby to see it.

Thanks for all your input! Definitely helps, as there really isn’t a huge amount of info out there (especially recent accounts, as people seemed to go the first year and not again)!

There is no longer a "secrete" single rider line for Tron.

At the ride entry far left has sign "Single Rider" (do speak with the cast member as they need to give you a single rider ticket to take with you to the ride loading area. If you don't hand this to the CM they won't let you ride)
Middle lane is Fasspass
Far right is Standby

A number of attractions do have single rider.
One word of warning....you can wait a long time as a single rider. Sometimes it's best just to do standby.
Found on Tron they would often send empty seats/bikes on the ride...than pull a single rider from the line.
I really think it has to do with the loading que now takes your bags and large items into bins before you ride (they don't use the lockers outside anymore).
So depending upon if they have already sent the baggage cart through to the unloading area...they might just send empty seats. Then trying to work out where to send a single riders stuff.

They all now know about single rider and use it.
Personally I found that single rider line not worth it. Though if you want to reride...check out the single rider line when your in the Fasspass or Standby lines...if it's sort go for it.


I was able to ride Tron more that 28 times in one day (via combo of standby/walk on lines, Fasspass, single rider line). Mostly just standby
saw a number of families trying to use single rider line and demanding to ride together.


Side note:
We found that the listed waittimes for Standby were never accurate and always inflated. More so mid day when the park does get very busy. It's as if they are trying to disburse crowds and make certain wait times look longer than they are.
Just a observation we had.

Though everyone notes how busy this park can get.
We just did not experience that...and think we were pretty lucky.
 
DO keep in mind SHDR now sells Fasspass for attractions. You can buy them even if the free fasspass are gone for the day. They also sell Fasspass packages that give you 1 Fasspass each for a list of certain attractions. They call them priority passes and even offered for Pirates...even though there is no Fasspass for Pirates. This can be done right from the SHDR app. So if the park is busy and waittimes are crazy...might be worth buying them..should you be ok spending the money and had limited time at SHDR. However, just like any Disney park with some planning and thought you can hit every attraction.

Tip-
When park opens even for hotel guest. It appears everyone tends to go Right towards Adventure Isle (Soarning way) so go left and head to Tommorwland for Tron
We also notcied most don't cross back and forth from land to land. They go around like a clock going backwards.
If your willing to do some serious walking (we did average of 45Km per day at SHDR) check waittimes and cross from land to land. You will certainly notice large clumps of crowds in one area, and then another land with less people.
Due to the size of the park...it feels like less people are around.

Morning and nights is shorted wait times. It was odd to see so many people leave the park at night.
 
If OP is going to ride single rider, it doesn't make sense to go to Tron at the open. I would highly recommend Pirates and Soaring during early hour. As I said earlier, assuming you're arriving at the beginning of early entry, Pirates and Soarin will be walk on. They were for all 3 mornings of my trip.
 
If OP is going to ride single rider, it doesn't make sense to go to Tron at the open. I would highly recommend Pirates and Soaring during early hour. As I said earlier, assuming you're arriving at the beginning of early entry, Pirates and Soarin will be walk on. They were for all 3 mornings of my trip.

sorry missed your post.

Yes, agree
we were able to ride Pirates 5 times back to back during park opening. We could have kept going with less than 10 minute wait...but wanted to move on to other things.

can't comment on Soarin...other than it appear that's what everyone was interested in.
We used a hotel Fasspass as we enjoy the attraction but don't rate it.
 
When it first opened, scalpers would hog FPs and the sell them to people when they run out (the scalpers would go to the ride with the buyer). Thats why they decided to sell FPs.
 
When it first opened, scalpers would hog FPs and the sell them to people when they run out (the scalpers would go to the ride with the buyer). Thats why they decided to sell FPs.
Oh, I totally understand the paid FPs! I actually think it's a decent solution to the FP scalper problem.

I've had alarms set to check FP availability after Shanghai Disney opens and can see how quickly they run out. I think I decided for the first day to go ahead and buy most of them. I know how to use the digital system (I'm a DL local with plenty of Maxpass experience), but realized it would just be a more enjoyable day if I didn't need to run around to everything for specific times! Or keep track of when I can grab my next FP!
 
A quick update from my trip:
1) I did have to pick the ride and times for the extra FPs. The guy at the concierge kept trying to get me to pick Soaring or Roaring Rapids but I had to explain I live near Disneyland, so can ride Soarin' often, and didn't want to get wet on the rapids! I picked Tron and 7DMT, but ended up not using the 7DMT just due to timing. I specifically picked Tron for the first evening so I got to see it after dark!

2) I did end up riding Soaring during Early Entry. If I had gone straight there, it would have probably been a near walk-on, since I was one of the first people in the park both mornings. Instead I did Tron, Buzz, took castle photos, Soaring, and was about to enter Pirates by the end of Early Entry. Soaring ended up being approx 20 minute wait? This was actually a high-crowd day with wait times of 90 minutes for Winnie the Pooh in the mid-afternoon!

And I did end up buying FPs and it was SO WORTH IT! Made my visit extremely enjoyable despite high wait times everywhere in the park.
 
A quick update from my trip:
1) I did have to pick the ride and times for the extra FPs. The guy at the concierge kept trying to get me to pick Soaring or Roaring Rapids but I had to explain I live near Disneyland, so can ride Soarin' often, and didn't want to get wet on the rapids! I picked Tron and 7DMT, but ended up not using the 7DMT just due to timing. I specifically picked Tron for the first evening so I got to see it after dark!

2) I did end up riding Soaring during Early Entry. If I had gone straight there, it would have probably been a near walk-on, since I was one of the first people in the park both mornings. Instead I did Tron, Buzz, took castle photos, Soaring, and was about to enter Pirates by the end of Early Entry. Soaring ended up being approx 20 minute wait? This was actually a high-crowd day with wait times of 90 minutes for Winnie the Pooh in the mid-afternoon!

And I did end up buying FPs and it was SO WORTH IT! Made my visit extremely enjoyable despite high wait times everywhere in the park.
And I think you were there after Golden Week, yes? Bit disappointed it was still really crowded.
 
And I think you were there after Golden Week, yes? Bit disappointed it was still really crowded.
Yeah I was there Oct 21-22. The 21st was the day with higher crowds, but I think that was due to a couple factors: it was the day after the Inspiration Run weekend. I had noticed a lot of people hanging around the hotel the previous day, so people may have made it a long weekend. And it also was the day of the Japanese emperor enthronement, so apparently a lot of Japanese guests came out to Shanghai since HK has so much upheaval. The crowds on the Tuesday (22nd) were much better.
 

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